Has anyone asked Obama why he believes that Lucy will ever let him kick the football?

i'm sure glad neither you nor rachel are the potus...

we'd never achieve all the marvels in just one year of this new great society by way of bipartisanship that pres hopey-changey and his minions have provided by continuing to engage "those across the aisle..."

It's nice to get the evidence neatly typed and presented. Unfortunately, it's not in the interest of the media to let most people know. It's boring because it doesn't fit the narrative, the one that tells us Republicans are winners and Democrats are incompetent. The media love a dogfight and Democrats love Debate Club.

The ugly truth is that the Republican's antics (whatever they are) have a way of playing well with the voting public. WE elected George Bush twice, and most likely, we'll reward the Republicans greatly this November. You can moan and complain and belittle them all you want, but they behave the way they do for one reason...it works.

Since Sarah Palin's hateful ignorant 100K Teabagger speech, the "hopey-changey" joke just doesn't work so well for me anymore. Time to let it go, please.

I saw the segment and wish I could get others (especially my conservative friends and relatives) to watch it.

This approach wouldn't happen if we had a working press. As it is we have Faux News and their little followers telling Americans what the Republicans want them to think. I have friends who really believe, deep in their souls, that Obama has never reached out to Republicans and has ignored them completely. Why, because they haven't been told the truth or even been told what Democrats believe is the truth. They have been told the Republican/Corporate Media line and that is it.

There is a lot of discontent out in the country. A lot of it has to do with the very real perception that the government isn't working for the average guy. Do you think the tea party folks would be so willing to vote Republican if they knew the Republicans are actively in the tank for Wall Street? Well they don't know. Nobody has told them what Republicans are actually supporting. If they were told, incumbents of both parties might feel the heat and the Party of NO strategy would change.

No blame Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, David Gregory, their producers and the rest of the media whores who refuse to tell the American people the truth about their government.

By the way, I am not sure Congressional Democratic leadership isn't every bit as in the tank for the current failed government as Republicans. When you can blame the 33 Senator Majority for every failure you don't have to explain why you are not helping the average American.

There we have it. Everybody living in a few zipcodes in the DC area are actively working against the interests of the rest of the country. While they steal our futures they give us great theater.

"the "hopey-changey" joke just doesn't work so well for me anymore."

It's written on their handy palmy for ease of recall.

It might be because the Repubs think Obama is just calling things "debt reduction" and "stimulus" when they actually accomplish neither. Or that things will pass with all kinds of progressive add-ons which will then be used against them in the next primary. As you might have noticed the Democrats in congress are not as clean as the piles of snow outside their offices.

There is an anti-spending backlash brewing (yeah teabags) against Washington and it will not matter if the politician has a D or R after their name. There was no mandate to dig our future so deep into the hole.

Repubs tactics not because they are effective in the abstract, but because there is no strong democratic voice to call on their bullshit. The Democrats' leave no stone unturned to live up to the stereotype that the Repubs paint of them.

And then you have Obama The Willfully Naive, continue to beg for the Republicans to screw him.

As our President loves the game of basketball, he should recognize that The Party of No is simply playing the blessedly discarded tactic of the stall from olden days of basketball. In those days, there was no shot clock, no five second rule, so, any team could employ the stall, where one player would stand in the fore court with the ball and not move for many minutes. Iowa State with mediocre players once beat Wilt and the Jayhawks in Ames using this tactic. Kansas lost the NCAA finals, when their coach, Dick Harp, put Kansas into a stall in the 2nd half after taking a slight lead by running. Changed the momentum.

Get rid of cloture, the filibuster and start using the majority the Progressives gave you. Then, the RepuGs can take their Stall to the middle of the Potomac and, either, float out to sea or stand in the mud for eternity.

Maybe the Americans who told Obama they were fed up with "politics as usual" didn't mean the hyper-partisanship of DC. Maybe they meant letting Republicans get away with endangering the country and lining their pockets because nobody in the Democratic party or the media will force them to pay a price for it. Maybe they want Gary Cooper in High Noon, not Chamberlain at Munich.

It is a very good piece.
One of the best to come along...

But damn, every youtube I've run has been cutting out on me for a week.
Other videos on other sites run without a hitch.
What's up with googol's server farm?

So take the next step, already: in order for Democrats to pass anything, we need majorities of the House (218+) from within the Democratic caucus (260), and not just a majority of the Senate, but 60 votes -- with only 59 Democrats.

That will require TWO things:

1) Democrats will have to be led by their most centrist votes, e.g., the Blue Dogs; and

2) Democrats will need a unified message (at least nationally, what people say in their states and districts, as Maddow shows with Republicans, is different) that is AFFIRMATIVE, and not defensive.

Incumbents rarely lose cuz they voted against something that passed, so enacting Democratic legislation with the votes of marginal Democrats will be tough -- their political calculation will always be that they are better off voting AGAINST whatever it is, so long as it passes.

And marginal Democrats will also reach a tipping point very soon (if they haven't already) when they will calculate their own chances of re-election as higher if they adopt the Republican line that the national Democratic party over-reached. (See #1.)

There's a way out of this mess, but we're not gonna get there without a change in strategy.

Nauseating. Nonetheless our electorate is flat-ou,t just plain stupid. Dumb. Unintellectual. And they apparently like it that way. The GOP and the electorate. It's much easier to fume and rant and spew hate then to think how your representative is addressing your needs for healthcare, jobs, or annything else near and dear to your heart. The MSM is culpable too. People need to know the truth and corporate america doesn't want them exposed to it.

The brainless addage "barefoot and pregnant" used to describe the wrongheaded thinking in the past about how a woman should be thought-of can successfully be altered to the american citizenryas " brainless and culpable" .

I think I just lost a bit of my breakfast. Again.

"There was no mandate to dig our future so deep in the hole."

You must really be pissed at the GOP, what with massive tax cuts, two wars that weren't even part of the budget until the current administration, and the prescription drug giveaway.

Reducing the deficit is a serious issue, but it's tomorrow's issue. Dealing with unemployment has to come first.

I think it was about four years ago when I had the very same epiphany myself, that "My God" Republicans really don't care at all about policy. For Republicans it really is all about politics -- government and governing as one big giant College Republican prank, which is where most of the Bush people learned about politics -- -- Rove, Norquist, Reed, Abramoff et al.

The particular turning point for me was the politicalization of the War in Iraq that began in 2002 and continued through the rest of the Bush term. I've been in government long enough to know that when you politicize an issue you are sending a signal that you really don't care about the issue itself, because exploiting issues for partisan gain limits your options in dealing with the issue itself. This is even true on the Republicans signature issue, national security.

Despite all their chest-thumping as the macho party, Republicans actually made us less safe by trying to use national security as a wedge issue against Democrats.

Here's how. Bush is the only president in US history to deliberately weaken his nation by dividing it politically on the eve of sending an American army into harms way. "We can take this issue to the country" said Karl Rove in the lead up to the 2002 mid-terms.

American boys and girls paid with their lives for that decision. When the insurrgency heated up shortly after Baghdad fell and the US desperately needed a new war strategy to account for changing conditions on the ground, Bush's political needs compelled our forces to instead "stay the course" in a losing strategy because to change direction would have meant admitting a mistake. And Bush was in no position to do that -- or to ask for Democratic help -- since that would give his Democratic opponents a dangerous weapon they would almost surely use against him after Bush had embittered them by impugning their patriotism in 2002.

No wonder Bush couldn't bear the sight of flag drapped coffins returning to Dover AFB and so never made the trip to greet them and tried to prevent their photographing.

Rachel Maddow made a power airtight case last night that nothing has changed in a corrupt and irresponsible GOP.

The case for calling Republican's bluff on filibusters gets better all the time. Phony filibusters and holds block appointments, etc. etc. The Republicans objective is to block all business, so why should Democrats take the blame. If Republicans were forced to actually filibuster a popular issue - not necessarily health care - it could have a real effect.

Couldn't it be interpreted that the US Senate and congressional R's are conspiring to actively harm the welfare of the nation? Isn't that a crime?

Oh, and every Republican voted against the huge tax cut in the stimulus package. They'll even vote against their one-note agenda.

Hell, if Obama proposed a constitutional amendment against abortions, they'd oppose it on the grounds that illegal immigrants would have more babies.

Neill and others do not appear to have been paying attention. Jonathon Chait recapitulates the President's tactics here. Read Chait's post and you'll see that the President is not looking to compromise with the GOP at every turn and his approach is anything, but naive "hopey/changey".

Will the this approach work on HCR or any of the rest of the agenda? We don't know. But, I think that the President's calculation is that swing voters are turned off by what they perceive as the normal partisan wrangling. Rather than attack the GOP in a head on partisan fight, he seeks to expose their hypocrisy and total lack of seriousness in order to build political support for Democratic policy objectives.

As I see it, the President has two challenges to overcome. First, an unhelpful media environment where every utterance of the GOP is given airtime instead of being treated with the distain they deserve.

The second challenge is those of us on the left that are spoiling for a fight. As gratifying as it might be to punch the GOP in the nose, the President's calculation appears to be that that approach will be counterproductive.

It's all about skillful means. It might not work, but I'm not convinced political food fights help our cause at this point, either.

In the worst days of the Iraq insurgency, it was regularly argued that the insurgents couldn't win, and that they didn't actually have any goals anyway -- they didn't seem to want to set up a new government and pursue a specific set of policy goals.

The conclusion was: they just wanted to make Iraq ungovernable. They just wanted to destabilize the existing government.

Remind you of anyone?

Remind you of anyone?

I said this on another comment thread but I really believe that currently the greatest threat to the stability and security of the nation is not Al Qaeda but the Republican Party.

At what point does their scorched-earth policy of total reckless obstructionism cross over into treason?

I think we should all stopping calling what Republicans are doing in abusing the filibuster "obstructionism." Becuase it goes way beyond that.

Obstruction is a negotiating tactic meant to create leverage so as to achieve a particular objective within an agreed upon set of rules.

What Republicans are doing today is rebellion.

Republicans simply will not, or can not, accept the verdict of the past two elections in which they have been denied power by the American people. So, as they constantly invoke the name of the very same "American people" who turned them out of power in the first place, Republicans have decided to shut down the government rather than participate as part of it -- in effect, attempting regime change.

The dead giveaway was the absurdity of their demands for unconditional Democratic surrender after yesterday's meeting with the president, which the president was quite right to call them on: "Bi-partisanship can't mean that I accept all of your positions and you accept none of mine," said Obama. But that is exactly what Republicans mean by bi-partisanship.

I am not even sure Republican lawmakers have any choice in this matter, because I am not sure that Republican lawmakers any longer control their own party. The GOP made a pact with the Devil back in 1968 with their Southern Strategy. It was the George Wallace, white supremacist, fundamentalist Christian Southern Right that the Republican Party hoped to capture and assimilate, but which now appears has captured and assimilated them. So, cooperating with the enemy -- aka The Rest of America -- is no longer an option. Tom Tancredo and Sarah Palin's performance at Tea Party Nation in Nashville last weekend was only the most recent example.

As much as people are now focused on the filibuster, I've not seen anyone make the obvious historical connection that the underlying psychology and mindset that we see from the GOP and Tea Party rebellion today is almost identical to the hysteria of the Southern slavocracy as it watched in panicked horror while its grip on national power was slipping away right before the Civil War.

The South did not seceed because Lincoln intended to free their slaves. He didn't. The South left the Union because the election of Lincoln signaled that Southern dominace of the nation had come to an end. The nation was growing up. Immigrants were streaming in from foreign lands. The north was industrializing. New lands were opening up. And while Lincoln promised not to touch slavery where it already existed, he knew that the nation had a choice to make. It could not continue to live "half slave and half free." And the South would have to accomodate itself to its diminished stature.

But it refused. What caused the South to rebell was the election of a president who intended to give the American Republic a "new birth of freedom" by setting an upper limit on the power and influence of a semi-feudal agricultural culture in which a small cabal of plantation owners ruled over a rigid class system. He would do this by preventing this slave culture from spreading into the new territories.

As this Southern right wing influence ebbed before the Civil War, the South had its own versions of the filibuster to wield as well.

Nullification was little more than filibuster after the fact rather than before, as new federal laws were passed that offended the South. And then there were John C. Calhoun's ideas about "concurrent majorities" that envisioned the United States not as united by as a confederation of separate sovereign states, with each region or state armed with an absolute veto with which to prevent any national legislation from passing that would offend either its values or its interests.

But finally, faced with the choice of either accomodating themselves to a new state of affairs in which they were consigned to an inferior position, or pulling away to form a new national confederacy, the South chose the latter.

How is this so different from Tea Party Nation or a Republican Party that can't bring itself to cooperate with the new national majority in any meaningful way?

Rachel Maddow did a great service last night exposing the GOP's fundamental lack of interest in genuine national policy. We need to dig deeper into history if we are to fully understand the emotions, psychology, mindset and historical pedigree that motivates and guides today's largely Southern-based Republican Party and a Tea Party Nation that is that radical party's identical twin in everything but name.

On the Daily Show last night, Jon Oliver did something similar. He interviewed RNC members at their winter strategy meeting in Hawaii. He got them to talk about how the Democrats (ie., Obama) were out of touch because the Dems chose to vacation in Hawaii. They also discussed that they came all the way to Hawaii to discuss how to show the Americian people that they were the fiscally responsible party.
I can continually amazed at how conservatives can hold so many diametrically opposing thoughts in their minds and not have their heads explode.
I am continually disappointed that they get away with it.

Republicans have always been racists, even when there was a significant faction of them who were abolitionists, back in the days of the founding of the party - the abolitionists were prominent, but they shared the party with the remains of the Whigs and the Know-Nothings (read "Team of Rivals" to understand what the party came out of). They have founded their power since the Great Sellout of 1876 on appealing to white male voters. They explicitly sold themselves to the white racist South in the 1960s and 1970s as the party that "understood" and "supported" the South's peculiar institution of white supremacy. The majority of their leadership now comes from the white supremacist/unreconstructed-Confederate South.

So of course they're going to go crazy when they loose the presidency to a Ni-ii-i-i-i.... They just can't bring themselves to use in public the word you know they use in private when they describe the president. Look at all the racist/white supremacist e-mails you get from wingnuts, all the stuff they are always "apologizing" for and accusing us of not being able to "take a joke" when they get outed for their racist bullshit.

So of course we are going to get this sort of reaction from them, and we need to start calling them out on what they really are: racist reactionaries who would be very happy to go back to the America of 50 years ago, where all non-whites and women "knew their place".

Bill@10:15: Couldn't it be interpreted that the US Senate and congressional R's are conspiring to actively harm the welfare of the nation? Isn't that a crime?

Yes and yes. America is being terrorized and systematically dismantled from the inside. This has been going on 4 decades and only a small minority are just beginning to figure it out.

Of course, it is too late. We are watching Grover Norquist's wet dream being played out right before our eyes. This is the stage where America gets "drowned in the bathtub".

I'm finding more and more, that my every political argument begins and ends with the fact that the war in Iraq happened, torture happened... and "nobody is hanging by their necks for it".

Nobody is being executed for war crimes, crimes against humanity or blatant treason (and I don't support the death penalty in any but the most extreme cases). This alone should tell us that the rule of law no longer exists to address these things.

If you want to know how they get away with this, go re-watch "Network" (it was on TCM last night and I did). What Chayevsky was saying 34 years ago is only more relevant today.

That the Republicans are now in the position they are, poised to make a major come back, is proof that Mencken was right that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." As a mass, Americans are probably the most politically-illiterate people in the world, outside of some third world countries. And Americans are so politically ignorant that they like to celebrate their ignorance in public.

Obama needs to make all his remaining appointments during the recess. When the GOP/MSM start howling, he should tell them that the republicans gave him no alternative, then list all the "reasons" given for these holds and ask the MSM if they are good enough reasons to significantly impair the ability of the federal government to provide for and protect the American people. He should then tell those reporters to challenge republicans on their holds if they really want to get to the heart of the controversy. The focus should be on the GOP holds, not the recess appointments.

When the GOP whines, then challenge them to a televised debate where they can defend the rationale behind their "holds" vs. the compromised government that is the direct result of the obstruction.

The Democratic Party also needs to address the basic message from the GOP: that all government is bad, so there's no harm in obstructing it. It's time to disinter Reagan and drive a stake through his fucking heart (if he ever had one).

Amazing commentary, Ted Frier, @ 11:19. Thank you.

It appears that Rachel conveniently does not do that with the Democrats. There are just as many clips, quotes, records of Democrats doing the same thing. The issue that immediately comes to mind is the mortgage crisis. When in 2004, Republicans were urging Congress to do something about the impending storm, the Democrats were all in agreement that there was no problem. Their goal of home ownership for minorities was becoming a reality, in spite of the cost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxMInSfanqg

As far as the rest of her point on the stimulus, she makes some statements that she does not support. "Since then, the consensus among economists is that the stimulus has worked even though it's been maybe too small." She provides no evidence for this claim from any economists.... See More

I am not defending anyone of hypocrisy since both parties are guilty of it. I see, however, that it is possible to disagree with a policy, have it pass, and then reap the rewards of the policy. The very real possibility exists that if another policy that did not involve $787 billion dollars of federal spending (lending) was adopted, the same outcome would have happened without the debt to our children and grandchildren. The lowering of taxes or easing non-environmental restrictions on businesses could have had the same outcome. I didn't vote for it, but if the federal government is going to give me money, I would be a fool not to accept it.

The GOP did spend too much and Barry is on track to spend much more. Progessive agendas are going to eventually ruin the United States.

Tyler Durden@12:28: It appears that Rachel conveniently does not do that with the Democrats. There are just as many clips, quotes, records of Democrats doing the same thing.

"Just as many"? Prove it!

My Fundamentalist Christian parents used to tell me that the Devil himself desires nothing more than complete denial of his existence.

What I didn't understand then (and my parents still do not understand now) is that "the Devil" is a metaphor for evil and wrongdoing. The Republican Party love nothing more than to see (well-meaning, probably) folks like you parroting the line that there's no difference between the 2 parties.

There's a huge difference. "Lesser of 2 evils"? I'll accept that with respect to the Democratic Party. "Just as many clips" of lies, slander, flip-flops and baiting? Not in the universe I live in, my friend!

Are you going to tell us next how Democrats abuse the filibuster too?

Enjoy political dissent like Rachel's, perhaps with a precognition of nostalgia, because you know how a Republican administration feels about dissent. If you've forgotten, review what happened to the Dixie Chicks.

Tyler Durden

The idea that "Democrats do it too" or that "both sides are equally guilty" is one of the oldest tricks in the book to give a blank check that excuses the very worst of right wing misbehavior. If these clips of Democratic hypocrisy exist, as you say they do, then why hasn't Fox News made better use of them?

Ted; just read your earlier post that was flagged by pol. I completely agree it is a remarkable commentary, and only hope the modern situation will turn out the same way as the earlier conflict. Few would now argue the United States would be a better place if the South had triumphed. Coincidentally, all who would so argue are presently in Republican right-wing politics.
Extraordinary writing that makes compelling reading.

Tyler Durden -

You note that Maddow did not provide evidence to support her comment that the consensus among economists is that the stimulus plan worked.

Her failure to provide evidence does not, hwoever, make it untrue. Are you actually disputing that consensus among economists? Because it has been very well established and reported -- even economists from conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute have agreed that it saved the economy from free fall and likely prevented GDP and unemployment each from falling another couple of percentage points.

If you have doubts, feel free to actually do a little homework. Google is your friend.

Masterful work, including the understated polite title which simply observes what is so.

Rather than come out with a distracting/off-putting label like "Arrogance Re-defined"..one which only creates more drama and takes away from the issue at hand, Maddow brilliantly decides to let the piece and the facts speak for themselves, which in turn allow more room for the listener/viewer to be pay attention and draw their own conclusion.

Should be shown everywhere.

Amen Rachael! There are not 2 sides to this truth...republicans don't care about what is best for the nation, they care only for gaining power and trashing Obama and the dems.

They have destroyed bipartisanship and are keeping the country from progressing. Stop trying to include them in getting legislation passed. The majority voted for partisanship, a democratic agenda. Republicans are only concerned with caus8ing failure and are not even embarrassed by their own blatant hypocrisy.

FYI...Alan Grayson has received the most supportive emails and campaign contributions than any other member of congress from masses of voters ($860,000 so far) for loudly pointing out republican's hypocrisy..so listen to him and learn dems...this is what we elected you all to do. Get rid of the abused filibuster and get the job of the majority done...please.

What Republicans are doing today is rebellion.

Indeed! Almost makes me want to vote for one of them.

"You cannot enslave a free man, the most you can do is kill him."

GOP votes on the stimulus bill: 0

Number Republicans taking cash: 65

GOP 2010: Trashing-and-Cashing In !

Maddow link? Doesn't seem to be in the post...

Does everyone forget that the states were FORCED to take the stimulus money! Remember, a few governors tried to refuse it and were not allowed. Once you get a wharehouse of free (counterfit)money to use in your state what would you say to the people. Your going to try to create jobs with it. Too bad the jobs only last as long as the project. Then what do we do?? Oh ya- Print More Money! Ridiculous!

What a joke, apparently just about all of Maddow's viewers responded to this ridiculous (with exception of a couple of sensible replies) falsehood of a propaganda campaign. Do your research (this is laughable). If you think your point is valid; how about doing research to avoid being accused of not providing the truth. I mean, if you are going to tout something then you the tout-er should provide verification or at least some concrete evidence
supporting your views.

Come on people; you can not think anything good can come from running the debt up as we have over the last nine years. I do not care if you are democrat or republican you still need to understand that with spending like there is no tomorrow will only lead to less for you and your children and grand children for the future.

What good is all the social programs if it eventually leaves us with a nation which will inevitably be unable to pay for them?

Do you think we can keep spending like we are and other countries will look upon us with a forgiving attitude?...if you do; you are living in a fantasy.

I wish all could be covered with health insurance but eventually if we continue like we are, no one will have any recourse and fewer will be covered than they are now.

For those of you who agree with raising taxes and think it is going to increase the over all federal taxes collected, are wrong. Like so many here have said read your history and go to the federal government website and look it up... oh wait, that information is not easy to come up with (wonder why?)

Note: Read books by economists and historians and you will see what happens to countries who spend more than they take in over an extended period of time...have you heard of a banana republic? [actually take a look at California's troubles and tell me if that is the road we want to go down...Hummm...I think not..!!]

For those of you who watch MSNBC or refuse to watch anything other than MSNBC are the ones with your heads in the sand. I do not exclude any news agency from my list of what to watch ...I watch them all and can determine which one is feeding me a line of bull...by researching and verifying what they say...by watching all news programs and listening with an open mind allows me to make a well rounded point of view and decisions in-order to not cast aspersions upon others.

If you want to know who is right and who is wrong then apply those same principals of money by both parties and see which one will lead you to prosperity and which one will leave you either in jail for fraud and broke or with money to support your family ...Hmm just food for thought....us regular people who vote are not too stupid to understand; it is those of you who say this which are to lazy to research and discover the truth for yourself.

"Maddow(the painful and boring incoherent show)" posted:

"What a joke, apparently just about all of Maddow's viewers responded to this ridiculous (with exception of a couple of sensible replies) falsehood of a propaganda campaign."

So... it's fake propaganda?

"Do your research (this is laughable). If you think your point is valid; how about doing research to avoid being accused of not providing the truth. I mean, if you are going to tout something then you the tout-er should provide verification or at least some concrete evidence
supporting your views."

English is your se.. er... thirty-second language, isn't it?

"Come on people; you can not think anything good can come from running the debt up as we have over the last nine years. I do not care if you are democrat or republican you still need to understand that with spending like there is no tomorrow will only lead to less for you and your children and grand children for the future."

And you need to realize that spending isn't one single thing. You can actually spend money to generate growth in the long term, by creating new jobs and spurring on innovation. It's not hard to understand, unless the word "spending" is represented in your tiny mind by a cartoonish minus sign and you consider Ayn Raynd to be great readin'.

"What good is all the social programs if it eventually leaves us with a nation which will inevitably be unable to pay for them?"

Social programs? Ah, yes, the U.S. Military.
Most overpaid social program ever.

"Do you think we can keep spending like we are and other countries will look upon us with a forgiving attitude?...if you do; you are living in a fantasy."

Forgiving attitude? How the hell do you look on someone with your attitude. Must be a secret Jedi trick. I usually use my eyes.

"I wish all could be covered with health insurance but eventually if we continue like we are, no one will have any recourse and fewer will be covered than they are now."

Except, of course, that universal healthcare works fine in plenty of countries.

"For those of you who agree with raising taxes and think it is going to increase the over all federal taxes collected, are wrong."

So increasing taxes won't... increase taxes?
You're not just illiterate, you have problems with ALL modes of thought?

"Like so many here have said read your history and go to the federal government website and look it up... oh wait, that information is not easy to come up with (wonder why?)"

Yea, the Illuminati has struck again, making it
impossible for you to research readily available facts.

"Note: Read books by economists and historians and you will see what happens to countries who spend more than they take in over an extended period of time..."

Yes, indeed. Reagan DID come close to ruining the U.S.

"have you heard of a banana republic? [actually take a look at California's troubles and tell me if that is the road we want to go down...Hummm...I think not..!!]"

You do know that California is crippled by it's crazy state constitution right?

"For those of you who watch MSNBC or refuse to watch anything other than MSNBC are the ones with your heads in the sand. I do not exclude any news agency from my list of what to watch ...I watch them all and can determine which one is feeding me a line of bull...by researching and verifying what they say...by watching all news programs and listening with an open mind allows me to make a well rounded point of view and decisions in-order to not cast aspersions upon others."

You've shown no ability to do so thus far.

"If you want to know who is right and who is wrong then apply those same principals of money by both parties and see which one will lead you to prosperity and which one will leave you either in jail for fraud and broke or with money to support your family"

Okay, Republican leadership has wrecked the economy once again, and Democrats, once again,
are trying to clean up the mess.
By the waym it's "principle" not "principal".

"...Hmm just food for thought....us regular people who vote are not too stupid to understand; it is those of you who say this which are to lazy to research and discover the truth for yourself. "

If this comment you wrote is typical of your thinking, there is nothing "regular" about you.
"Insane and ignorant" would fit better.